Becky Campbell

A Johnson City man serving a six-year prison sentence for vehicular homicide and reckless aggravated assault convictions wants credit for 884 days he wasn’t incarcerated while waiting for the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals to rule on his case.
David Phillips, 44, was convicted in May 2007 of the charges that stemmed from a 2005 drag race between Phillips and Bradley Mullins that ended with Mullins crashing into the back of another vehicle.
The fiery wreck killed Cortney Hensley and severely burned her best friend, Courtney Beard. They had just picked up homecoming photos from a nearby pharmacy and were headed to one girl’s house when Mullins slammed into them at North Roan Street and Springbrook Drive.
Phillips began serving his sentence in May 2010 after the CCA denied his appeal. He is incarcerated at the Johnson County jail in Mountain City and, according to one of the motions filed this week, has been a “model prisoner.”
In May, the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole denied parole for Phillips. The panel said it would not give his early release any further consideration, ruling that he remain incarcerated until 2017.
Phillips’ new attorney, Michael LaGuardia, filed two motions this week. One asks that Phillips be granted a furlough from 6 p.m. July 28 until 8 a.m. Aug. 9 so he can attend several doctor’s appointments.
According to the motion, Phillips needs to see a doctor about a rotator cuff injury as well as an eye doctor. He also has other doctor appointments that are not detailed in the motion.
The second motion asks that the trial court judge, in this case Judge Robert Cupp, reconsider Phillips’ sentence because he “accumulated ‘dead time’ from December 17, 2007 until May 20, 2010 for a total of 884 days.”
Phillips’ motion asks that the judge grant him time served credit for that “dead time” — defined by the Tennessee Department of Correction as “delinquent time” or time not incarcerated.
Two other options the motions suggests are house arrest for the remainder of the sentence or work release.
At his parole hearing in April, Phillips apologized to the Beard and Hensley families and said he can’t imagine the pain they have experienced. But he said he has changed — for the better — since being in jail.
The Beards and Hensleys, including Courtney Beard, told Phillips quite bluntly how he destroyed their lives.
No hearing date is set for Cupp to rule on Phillips’ motions.